In 328 BC a Latin colony founded at Fregellae, just inside Samnite controlled territory, brought no response; but when the Romans declared war on Neapolis the Samnites quickly placed a strong garrison in the city. Its people however seem to have been divided, one side favouring the Samnites and receiving support for other Greek cities (especially Tarentum), while the other supported Rome. In 327 BC Neapolis was besieged by the consul Quintus 02Publilius Philo.
When the election for magistrates was held for the coming year it was deemed inadvisable to replace Publilius in the middle of the ongoing operation. The popular assembly therefore passed a motion that on the expiration of his consulship he should continue the campaign in place of a consul (prorogatio imperii) until the war with the Greeks was concluded; thus did the Romans create their first proconsul. In 326 BC the people got rid of Samnites and made peace with Rome.
The Samnites retaliated by blocking the route from Rome south to Fregellae. In 321 BC a Roman army under the consuls Spurius 04Postumius Albinus and Titus Veturius Calvinus was trapped by the Samnite commander Pontius (2) in a narrow Apennine pass called the Caudine Forks. Failing to fight their way out of the ambush the Romans surrendered and were forced to march out under a yoke of spears.
After this humiliation the Romans decided to reorganise their army. Aware that the phalanx was too stiff and awkward for rough terrain, the Romans adopted the more flexible manipular system, sometimes referred to as a ‘phalanx with joints’. A legion was to consist of thirty maniples, each having between 120 and 160 troops commanded by the senior of two centurions, deployed in three lines arranged in chessboard fashion. All the foot soldiers (legionaries) carried swords and wore helmets, breastplates and greaves (leg guards). As the enemy advanced, the lightly-armed skirmishers would filter back through the gaps in the Roman lines, and during the battle an exhausted front line would back through the one behind to recover. With five maniples in reserve and 150 cavalry on each wing to protect the flanks, a Roman legion usually numbered in excess of 4500 men. To avoid ambushes and surprise attacks in the future, greater use was made of speculatores (scouts) and exploratores (spies) on reconnaissance missions.
In 320 BC the Samnites occupied Luceria in Apulia on the eastern side of the peninsula, captured Fregellae, and gained the support of the Satricans. The consul 03Papirius Cursor defeated the Samnites at Luceria (320 BC) and Satricum (319 BC). In 318 BC the Romans created two new tribes in annexed territory: Oufentina near the middle Liris and Falerna in northern Campania. At the same time they campaigned in Apulia, and forced alliances on Arpi, Teanum and Canusium.
In 316 BC the frontier towns of Nuceria and Nola sided with the Samnites; and Sora on the upper Liris expelled its Roman garrison. In 315 BC Quintus 05Fabius Maximus Rullianus (fl.325-295 BC) captured Saticula in the Liris Valley, while the Samnites advanced past Sora and defeated a Roman army led by Rullianus at Lautulae near Tarracina.
In 315 BC the Aurunci on the coast and at the mouth of the Liris, and the Samnite party in Capua revolted. But in 314 BC Sora was recaptured, the Aurunci were suppressed, the Samnite party in Capua was quashed, the Samnites were defeated in a battle possibly near Tarracina, and a Latin colony was sent to Luceria. In 313 BC a treaty with Nola and the fall of Fregellae turned the war into Rome’s favour, and placed Apulia and Campania in her hands. To protect her borders Rome sent Latin colonies to Suessa Aurunca and island of Pontiae to watch the coast road, to Saticula to cover the Campanian frontier, and to Interamna to guard the middle Liris Valley.
In 312 BC the censor 03Claudius Caecus (c.67; fl.312-c.273 BC) improved the water supply by building the first of the Roman viaducts, the Aqua Appia (16.4 km), which brought water from the Sabine Hills to the increasing population of the city. He also supported Rome’s hold on the Tyrrhenian coastline by building a paved highway between Rome and Capua (the older Via Latina followed an inland route that was vulnerable to Samnite attacks), which as the Via Appia (‘Appian Way’) was eventually extended to Brindisi in Apulia.
In 311 BC two officers, named duumviri (‘one of two men’) navales, were elected to provide and equip the first Republican fleet and keep it in repair. Available were Neapolitan ships and some that had been captured after the battle at the Astura River in 338 BC. Twenty war galleys, probably triremes, were commissioned to patrol the Tyrrhenian coastline and support offshore garrisons. The next year a small squadron commanded by Publius 05Cornelius, whom the Senate had put in charge of the coastal area, was sent to raid the area around Nuceria (near Salerno), but the landing party met strong opposition and was forced to flee to the ships.
Also in 311 BC the Etruscans besieged Sutrium, a city on the border between Roman territory and Etruria. The Romans sent the consul 03Aemilius Barbula, and although he won two victories outside the city he failed to break the siege. In 310 BC the consul 05Fabius Rullianus crossed the Ciminian Forest and probably won a victory at Perusia. Arretium, Cortona and Perusia sued for peace, and were each granted a thirty-year truce. Other Etruscan cities raised an army and met the Romans at Lake Vadimo on the upper Tiber Valley.
As the battlefield was narrow so the Romans deployed their cavalry to the rear of the army instead of on the wings. The battle started without the usual exchange of missiles. During the fighting the Romans were forced to commit their second and third lines. The cavalry, the only available reserves, dismounted and advanced towards the fighting, but by now the Etruscans were also suffering and on the arrival of Roman reinforcements they broke and fled. While Fabius was campaigning in Etruria, his colleague 03Marcius Rutilus (fl.311-265 BC) captured Allifae, a town in Samnium near the border with Campania, not far from Capua, from the Samnites.
In 308 BC the consul 02Decius Mus (fl.312-c.295 BC) advanced into Etruria, where he concluded a forty years’ truce with Tarquinii and captured some Volscian fortresses, The Etruscans asked for peace but Decius refused to offer them a treaty and granted them a one-year truce instead. This development alarmed the Umbrians, the Etruscans northeastern neighbours, and they formed an army and marched on Rome. The Senate ordered 05Fabius Rullianus to move against the Umbrians. He met them at Mevania, an Umbrian city to the southeast of Perusia, and Livy records that the battle ended with an easy victory for the Romans. With the Umbrian army broken, the Umbrian cities had to submit, but most of the area remained outside Roman control. Only the Umbrian towns of Camerinum and Ocriculum made alliances with Rome at this time, but peace was made with the remaining cities in Etruria. In the same year the Samnites persuaded the pro-Samnite parties among the Paeligni, Marrucini, Marsi and Vestini to revolt against Rome. Fabius Rullianus moved across the Sabellic region from Etruria and restored the situation.
In 307 BC the Samnites raided Apulia through to the borders of Calabria and captured the town of Silvium. The substantial force that the consul Lucius Volumnius (c.67; 307-273 BC) Flamma took to the distant southeast managed to drive the Samnites out of Apulia, but its absence has seriously weakened Roman defence in the west. A Samnite force burst into Campania and captured Calatia, followed by a second Samnite force that crossed the Liris and seized Sora.
This prompted some Hernican cities to revolt: Arpinum, Calatia, Frusino and Sora, under the leadership of Anagnia, all joined with the Samnites, although Aletrium, Ferentinum and Verulae remained passive. In 306 BC the consul 04Marcius Tremulus (fl.306-288 BC) hurried to the Trerus to deal with the pro-Samnites, while his colleague 06Cornelius Arvina (fl.306-288 BC) went to Campania to fight the Samnites.
Tremulus stormed Anagnia and defeated the Hernici. On his return to Rome an equestrian statue dedicated to him was erected in front of the Temple of Castor. All the Hernician cities, except the passive towns (which were now made Roman allies), received partial citizenship. In the south, however, Cornelius appears to have had only moderate success against the Samnites. A third treaty was made with Carthage.
In 305 BC two consular armies, one from Campania under 03Minucius Augurinus, the other from Apulia under 05Postumius Megellus (c.85; fl.c.307-c.260 BC), entered Samnium and united in front of the capital Bovianum. The Samnite general Statius Gellius brought up a force to relieve the city and suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Minucius, who was killed in the fray. He was replaced by 01Fulvius Curvus who took Bovianum by storm. Having lost their chief stronghold the Samnites sent envoys to Rome to sue for peace; the Sabellian tribes, the Frentani, Marrucini, Marsi, Paeligni, Picentes and Vestini, followed their example.
In 304 BC Rome renewed their equal alliance with the Samnites. Alliances were made with the Frentani, Marsi, Marrucini and Paeligni, and two years later with the Vestini. The consul Publius 01Sempronius Sophus mounted a campaign that lasted fifty days during which he captured numerous Aequian strongholds and slaughtered the inhabitants. The censors 05Fabius Rullianus and 02Decius Mus repealed the reform of 03Claudius Caecus in which he attempted to win over the landless urban population by instead of dividing them between the four urban tribes they were distributed through all the tribes thus giving them more control of the elections.
In 303 BC Arpinum and Trebula were granted civitas sine suffragio. Latin colonies were formed: in Volscian territory at Sora in 303 BC; in Aequian territory at Alba Fucens in 303 BC; in Umbrian territory at Narnia in 299 BC (q.v.), commanding the route north along the Nar River and later joined to Rome by the first part of the Via Flaminia; and in Aequian territory at Carsioli in 298 BC. In 299 BC a treaty was made with the Picentes. Two new tribes were formed: Aniensis in Aequian territory on the upper valley of the Anio; and Teretina in Frusino territory on the upper valley of the Trerus.
Although the Samnites still retained their independence they had been forced to abandon their interests in Campania, were effectively pushed behind the Liris River, and had lost links to Apulia once the Romans had taken Luceria. Rome had won some frontier towns, allied herself with peoples in Central Italy, had fortresses along the Liris and at Luceria, and treaties with Nola and Nuceria completed her hold on Campania.
In 300 BC the consul 01Appuleius Pansa began the siege of Nequinum (=Narnia), dominating the route into central Umbria via the gorge of the Nar River at a point where in later times the Via Flaminia running northwards split into two branches. Built on the edge of steep rock the city was impregnable either by assault or siege engines. It fell the following year to the consuls 02Fulvius Paetinus and 04Manlius Torquatus, and was resettled as the Latin colony of Narnia. Meanwhile, the Gauls and Etruscans had raided Roman territory in south Etruria. Titus 06Valerius Corvus, elected suffect (substitute) consul when Torquatus died after being thrown from his horse, was sent to deal with the situation. On his arrival the Gauls withdrew with their spoils and the Etruscans retreated to the safety of their fortified towns.
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